Tell Me A Story
by bethanyhallen
Summary: His voice is something she's always loved. The timber, the rise and fall of it. His stories have always given her a means of escape, his voice gives her comfort. She needs a story tonight, one that only he can tell.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Warning, fluff ahead, turn away if its not your thing. Also, if you're a reader of "Returning Us To Life" know that I am still working on it. In fact there is a chapter that is almost finished. I had to do a bit of research on it so it's taken me a bit to get it together. I hope you enjoy this in the meantime.

* * *

><p>"Tell me a story," she asks him, her voice low and full of exhaustion.<p>

He hasn't left her side in the time they have been here; sure he's gone to get things for her, anything she's needed. He's been at her beck and call. He let her and her dad have time together, he didn't ask what they had talked about, her eyes had been swollen upon his return and so had Jim's. He wasn't going to intrude on their visit. No, no that was private and if Kate wanted to tell him about it she would, in her own time, much like she did with everything else.

He moves from his position at the window, coming closer to where she lay in the bed, taking one of her hands in his.

"You want a story? What story?" he asks.

She lets out a gasp; he can see the pain she's in wash over her face.

"Ah, Castle…Oh, damn…" she's breathing harder, her chest rising and falling quicker than before.

He's with her through it all. Holding her hand with one hand and wiping her face with a cool cloth with the other. He waits until her breathing has slowed, until her muscles have relaxed from the spasm they had been in.

Slowly she comes back to herself, "You're the story-teller, writer-man, make one up."

There's a fine sheen of sweat covering her body, beads of it gathering on her lip and she's picking on him.

He loves her so.

"No preference? Alright, I hope you know what you're getting yourself into," he tells her, moving to sit on the edge of the bed, right by her hip.

"Are you going to get on with it or are you suffering from writers block?" She throws back, a smile barely breaking out on her lips.

"You're hurtful, but I love you, so I'll over look that."

"I love you, too," she returns the sentiment.

He brings the hand he's holding to his mouth and kisses it softly. He notices the grimace on her face when he lowers it. He should have insisted more when she refused any pain medication today. She didn't want to lose the day to the fog of the medicine.

"I've loved you always. Always. Even in the beginning when you couldn't stand me being anywhere near you. The moment I looked into your eyes on that rooftop all those years ago, I knew. I knew you were going to be her. I knew you were going to be you," he stops to take a breath, to get all of his words together. "I looked into your eyes and saw it all in a matter of seconds. I saw everything that was going to be…I saw everything that had been."

She looks at him in confusion. The small smile on his lips tells her he's going to surprise her, he always does.

"It was fall, it was freezing outside, it had rained that morning but slowly it had turned into a drizzle as the day and gone on. I had sat there for hours, hours, I was ready to leave after the first one. But there I was still signing and the line didn't seem to be getting any smaller..."

"Poor you," she says interrupting him. Small smile on her lips, her head lying back against the pillow under it.

"Hey, they all wanted me baby," he says answering back with a smile. "Anyway, I didn't know if I was ever getting out of there. I had taken a break and just as I was sitting down I caught a glimpse of a girl, she…she stood out. I watched as she came closer, with every signature she got closer. I didn't want to make it obvious that I was watching this woman…couldn't take my eyes off of her."

"Why did she stand out?" Kate asked him.

"She just did, she was that kind of girl…I could tell she was there alone. I never saw her speak to another person in line. She kept pulling her phone from her pocket, checking every few minutes or so."

"She must have had somewhere to be," she tells him eyes downcast to their clasped hands.

"Must have, but finally she was there, right in front of me. I didn't speak at first. I just took her in. Book in hand, hair still a bit damp from the rain outside, drying in a loose curl resting against the top of her shoulders. I finally made it to her face, her eyes dark. Something in them I didn't think I would ever know. Haunted, you would say. But I finally found my voice, 'Hi' I had said, she answered the same. 'Who, who should I make it out to?' I asked and when she told me her name I signed it…may have written something else. Something I wouldn't normally do, but for her? I had to. I returned the book to her and shook her hand…I didn't want to let it go. Paula was already motioning for the next person to come up so I knew I had to. I watched as she walked away, watched as she walked out the door I could see through the windows at the front of the store, I watched the wind immediately catch her hair and coat as soon as she reached the street. She held the book close to her chest…I just, I wanted to run after her. I could tell that it meant something to her…I wanted to know what."

She wants to cry. Wants to sit up from where she lays and claim those lips like she's done a million times.

"Plus, when the wind picked up I saw the holster and badge on her hip and it was quite possibly the hottest thing I had ever seen. Until that point at least."

She rolls her eyes; she wants to hit him a little too.

"'From the ashes a fire shall be woken, Richard Castle. P.S. You've got this'. That's what you wrote."

He never takes his eyes from her, never breaks the eye contact.

He knows she never had a clue he remembered. But the first time he turned around at that party and came face to face with her, one look in those deep pools of green, he knew.

"After that day, I looked for you everywhere, at every signing I had in the city. Any time I passed an officer or a police cruiser, I looked for you. Then suddenly, there you were. And you hated me."

She graces him with a soft smile.

"I didn't hate you. I never…Never hated you. Couldn't, you were cute."

"Finally! The truth comes out after all this time."

"Castle, I…I had this image of you, I had built you up…You have no idea what you meant to me when we met…either time. You didn't know how you saved me with your words, you still don't. But you gave me so much with your books. You gave me hope that good conquers evil, you showed me that in the end the truth would always win."

She stops, sucking in a breath; the monitor tracking her heartbeat begins to beep faster than before.

"Shhh, shhhh, it's okay Kate. Breathe through it," he says to her, watching her eyes close shutting out everything that's happening.

She's breathing, in through her nose, out through her mouth. Just like she's been taught to do, she breathes through it. Her body is only barely cooperating.

He's there with her through it all, helping her as the pain washes over her, his presence calming her.

"I had built you up in my head…Oh god! I had built you up into something that you couldn't have lived up to…Ahhh. But you showed me…mmmmmm; you showed me how wrong I was. You were everything I had imagined and more… when I finally let you. OH GOD! Get the doctor! NOW," her voice louder than he's heard all day, practically screaming.

He doesn't even have to leave her, because as the words leave her mouth the nurse swings the door open and after that it's a blur.

"Okay, Mrs. Castle, are you ready? It seems like the little one there is," Nurse Calloway says to her after a quick check.

The nurse had been with her since the moment they came in this morning, when Kate's water had broken shortly after she had woken up this morning. They knew labor could be long with a first pregnancy, but it's been nearly twelve hours and he knows Kate is more than exhausted.

"Yes! Yes, I'm ready."

Exhausted, but she's so ready to hold their baby. She's wants the weight of their child in her arms. Wants to look into their baby's eyes and see both she and Castle reflected back at her. She's never been in love with something she's never seen or touched.

Thirty minutes after the doctor arrives she's still pushing.

"I can't anymore. I can't," she says to him and the tears that had pooled in her eyes have finally started falling.

"Kate, baby, yes you can. I know you can," he tells her; she's using one of his hands to squeeze while his other hooked behind her knee.

"I really can't, Castle," she says letting her body fall back to the bed.

He leans down to her, forehead against forehead.

"Kate, listen to me. You can do this. You're the bravest, strongest person I've ever known…If anyone can do this, you can. You got this," he tells her, lifting his forehead from hers, replacing it with his lips.

She lets out a gasp, "I got this."

"Yeah, you do."

"Plus, I need to prove you wrong, show you we are having a boy and not a girl," she says to him.

"Or you're going to prove me right, you're having our baby girl, Kate," he answers her back, continuing the argument they've had since the positive pregnancy test came back.

They had decided that they wouldn't find out the gender, leave it all a surprise until this moment.

He helps her sit up from where she lay, practically climbing in the bed behind her, letting her push back against him.

Minutes later their child is laying on her chest, she's crying for an entirely different reason than she was before. She turns to look at him, their lips finding each other.

"Thank you," she tells him, their lips brushing. "Thank you for your words, thank you for being you."

"I love you, Kate."

He kisses her again, reaching over her to help cradle their child against her.

"I love you," she says, "Castle, I'm not naming him Cosmo."

He lets out a bark of laughter.

He knew she would win, after all, he saw it all in her eyes so many years ago.


	2. Struck By Lightning

A/N: Just a little something to get me back to writing. The holidays had me very busy and I hate to say it but I am very glad they are over! Warning: Fluff ahead. Hope you enjoy it!

* * *

><p>The house is quite when he gets home. The fireplace the only source of light in the room, it's the only clue that he needs to prove that his wife isn't asleep. She would never leave it on in that case. He removes his coat and scarf, hanging them both in the closet beside the door before making his way to their bedroom. Its dark there as well, he loses the suit jacket and tie, unbuttons the crisp white linen shirt a few buttons and the proceeds to roll the sleeves up his forearms.<p>

He hates black tie events on a good day. He loathes them when she isn't there with him. They've only been apart a few short hours but he misses her, he physically misses her. Not bothering to change into more comfortable clothes, he goes in search of his wife.

He moves through the dark loft, not wanting to disturb the quite calm his home is in. He can hear her before he sees her, the door is slightly ajar the soft light spilling out into the hallway. He stops his movements not wanting to alert her to his presence.

She's humming softly, he feels like he should know the tune, it sounds familiar, but he can't be positive of the name. He can't see her but he knows she's sitting in the rocker, can close his eyes and picture exactly what's happening on the other side. Short minutes pass and he doesn't want to be on his side of the door anymore, but on the other, with them.

He finally pushes open the door and peeks his head in.

He's seen his wife in a thousand situations, but this one? This one is his favorite. He could spend the rest of his life in this moment and he would die happy.

She's not even aware that he's came into the room.

She's staring down at the bundle in her arms. The tiny thing that is a perfect blend of the two of them…he's kidding himself when he says that. Their child is all her.

He's perfect.

It's been two weeks and he's perfect in every way.

Seeing her like this with their child…it's just been two weeks and he thinks his heart will burst from everything he feels for them. He's not sure he will survive a lifetime but he'll do anything and everything he can to make sure he does.

The humming has stopped for the moment; he knows what she's doing. Normally they both do it together, she's listening to him breathe. It can be hypnotic.

He sees her cheeks rise slightly before she looks up at him standing in the doorway, his head resting against the door frame.

"You know, you don't have to stand all the way over there, right?" she says in almost a whisper, not wanting to disturb the newborn she holds in her arms.

"I didn't want to interrupt mommy and son time," he tells her in excuse to his staring.

He crosses the room softly, he knows there's a floorboard that creaks but he hasn't committed it to memory as to which one.

He bends to place a kiss to the top of his wife's head, then another at her temple.

"How is he tonight?"

"He's been great, of course, we both missed you," she says, tilting her head up to properly kiss him.

"If I didn't have to go I wouldn't have, I got out of there as soon as I could, I think Paula and Gina are taking it easy on me, they didn't yell at me too badly when I said my goodbyes."

She laughs lightly, "Gina called, just after you left the venue tonight, told me to let you know you only get the 'new baby at home' pass for a short period of time."

"They only way to fix that is another new baby then," he says, half joking.

"Yeah, sure, let's get right on that, babe," she says with an eye roll and a smile.

"Well, for there to be three we really shouldn't wait too long."

She can hear the smile in his voice.

"Who says there will be three of these, Castle?"

He's bending down, easing to his knees so he can look her in the eyes, kisses the baby on the head. He looks up at her and meets her eyes, she's watching him with a smile on her face but he can see that she's tired.

"Come on, Kate, why don't we put this little guy to bed and get some rest ourselves. He'll be up in a few hours wanting his mommy," he reasons.

"But, I want him now. I miss him, Castle. He's in my arms and I miss him," she says with a slight laugh.

She never thought she was this person, never even had a clue what she would turn into. She wouldn't have it any other way.

Castle chuckles lightly.

"I'm serious, Castle. It's indescribable, I can't…I can't put it into words," and she's laughing again, harder than before, out loud and the bundle in her arms is shaking with every breath.

"Lightning bolt?" he asks.

"You told me that before, I thought I knew what you meant, but I was wrong. I never imagined it was that lightning bolt every time I looked at him...every single time I look at him."

"Want to know a secret?"

His secrets? She wants to know them all.

"It never stops."

She laughs again. This time their son decides he's been disturbed enough.

They both sooth him and he drifts back to sleep after a few whimpers escape.

"Come on, wife. Bed for you, too."

She lets Castle lead her from the room her hand in his after laying the baby in the crib.

She's exhausted, but it's a good exhausted.

Castle pulls her to him when they've laid down themselves, covers around them.

"Love you," she tells him.

"Love you too, now sleep, he'll have you up before you know it."

"Wait, tell me story, about the three, our three babies we're going to have."

He smiles, lips brushing against her ear.

"Alright, there's little man upstairs, he's going to be our grounded one, like Alexis. He's not going to give us any trouble. Even when he hits those years, those years we're both concerned with. But the twins..."

"TWINS!" She yells her eyes flying open.

"Yes, the twins. Oh they are going to give us a run for our money."

"You've got to be kidding me," she groans.

"One boy, one girl…maybe two girls, haven't decided yet. But they are going to be holy terrors. They're all going to be so amazing, Kate. The girls they'll want to be just like you, they'll look just like you. It will kill me when they hit their dating years."

"Thought you said you hadn't decided yet, if it was going to be two girls or not?"

"Just decided, just now, we've already got a momma's boy. So twin girls, their momma's little doppelgangers. Fierce and kind, with a love of boots and coats, hazel eyes and brown hair, all you," he says, waiting for her to shoot his vision down.

"Blue," she says.

"What?"

"Blue eyes, I want them to have your eyes," she tells him softly, he can hear the smile in her voice; can see the rise of her cheeks.

"Alright, they'll have blue eyes."

She's never wanted anything more than she has now, but his vision of the children they will have, she wants that too.

She drifts off to sleep and dreams of little girls that look like her and her little man who already fills her days.

* * *

><p>When the twins are born, only one has blue eyes…the other has hazel.<p> 


End file.
